A leading provider of industrial cyber security solutions that focuses on protecting process industry facilities recommends SolarWinds IT management solutions to combat the growing risk of industrial cyber security threats and vulnerabilities. By offering a portfolio of scalable tools, services, and support, their global teams of certified network and security professionals help secure critical infrastructure components and create a safer and more reliable IT environment for client organizations.

The cyber security consultants employ a phased approach to identify security vulnerabilities and help industrial facilities strengthen their IT security processes. First, they assess end-users’ assets to identify vulnerabilities according to regulatory requirements as well as industry standards and best practices to identify vulnerabilities and to offer a phased approach to ensure industrial cyber security. Then they focus on minimizing security vulnerability to cyber events, reducing the impact and recovery time of incidents, and improving system performance. In the next phase, they evaluate the facility’s system and technology management processes and how their workflows and procedures are implemented. Finally, they monitor the facility’s IT infrastructure monitoring to ensure that the cyber security processes are operating as expected and according to industry regulations.

For effective IT infrastructure monitoring, they have recommended and implemented SolarWinds IT management solutions for over 200 customers worldwide. According to cyber security Engineer, Steve Norfolk, “We recommend SolarWinds due to the modularity and scalability of the offerings. After we assess the network for threats and needs, the end customer can make the final decision on what devices and applications are critical for monitoring.”

At a minimum, customers implement Network Performance Monitor (NPM) to monitor network devices, key services, and servers. “NPM provides a number of functions. It reports on the availability of network devices, is the first line of detection for increases in network traffic, provides device details, and allows for the creation and distribution of custom security reports.”

The company also recommends User Device Tracker (UDT) to enhance cyber security. By creating a white list for MAC addresses that should be on the network, the monitoring team is immediately alerted when a device that’s not on the white list appears on the network. The monitoring team can then track the suspect device to the physical port the device is connected to. UDT detection and monitoring reinforces cyber security by actively alerting IT teams about unauthorized devices attempting to communicate on the network.

“SolarWinds offers more frequent and proactive updates along with being more cost effective when looking at the total cost of ownership. Plus, the ability to download and demonstrate is very important to our customers during their evaluation.”